Update

from here

Hello, Blog! I’m sorry I’ve neglected you lately, I don’t have much bloggy time while classes are running and unfortunately my two-week break between my first and second subjects coincided with my medication’s awesome effects dropping off and leaving me low and completely uninspired for a while. I’m on a higher dosage now, and am just starting to climb out of the dumpy hole I was in, although I’m still feeling excessively tired and spaced-out and spend a lot of my time reminding myself to focus on the conversation I’m currently having rather than daydreaming about curling up on the ground and having a nap. Along with my desire to be awake, the antidepressants have taken away my libido and my ability to reverse park, both of which I miss terribly. I’m not feeling very loving towards the medication at the moment, though I can’t remember what life was like before it was around. I’m seeing a psychiatrist at the end of the month to start what is hopefully a short process of figuring out if there’s another magical tablet that will lift my mood, keep me alert, restore my driving capabilities, improve my singing voice, motivate me to exercise and cook dinners for me, but I won’t hold my breath.

Here is a brief update of life at the moment.

I’m up to the second week of my second class for Psychology. Last week’s topic was social psychology, which was so cool – I’ve heard of some of the studies before (Milgram’s Obedience Study and Elliott’s Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise) but never in much detail, and it was fascinating to watch videos of them and think about how I might react in the same situation (Asch’s Conformity Study especially! I’d like to think I’d say the right answer, no matter what). The one I found most interesting, though, was Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study (the clip’s below), possibly because I saw it around the same time as the many articles were being published about potential links between complementarian theology and domestic violence. It made me reflect all over again on the way being placed in roles of power changes people (and reminded me of this post I wrote a couple of years ago now). I wonder if there’s any link between complementarian theology and smacking one’s children? It’d be difficult to test that, though... (This is how I think now – everything is a potential study.)

Apart from uni work, making the podcast is another thing I’ve been enjoying in the absence of blogging inclinations. We recorded our third episode last week, on feminism (it was International Women’s Day on the date we were supposed to record it, so the topic seemed pertinent). I think we’re getting the hang of this podcasting thing! This episode in particular makes me cringe more than others because I talk more in it (and I say “fundamental” Christianity instead of “fundamentalist,” which I would chew off my toes to be able to go back in time and correct. Alas.)(“Phew,” say my toes), but I’m getting better at not giggling quite so much and at interrupting Sarah and Sonia less. (We probably still talk far too quickly, Grandpa, but I’ve taken your other comments on board.)

Episode 3 | Feminism

I was going to fill you in on everyone else in the family, but I’ll save them for later – I borrowed three DVDs from the library during my uni break and ended up reading books instead, but the movies are due back tomorrow and apparently Margaret and David think Oranges and Sunshine is worth watching, so I’m off to watch it now. (Who will I turn to for advice on whether or not to see any movies that come out this year or after? WHO?!) Ciao for now.